Monday, November 28, 2011

The Wine Room

Since my husband and I enjoy wine, we decided to dedicate an area in our lower level for wine storage.  Since the purpose for the area was just for storage (versus storage with a tasting area), we  framed in a relatively small 7' 1/2" x 10' space. Below is after drywalling and tiling with 10" x 20"s in a herringbone pattern. 
 

For the walls, I did a linear textured treatment, vertically oriented.  I trowelled on a texture medium and used a 12" paint trimmer to imprint random lines vertically in the product and used the trowel to knock down (flatten) some of the raised ridges.  This is how the finish looked while the product was still wet.


I then base coated the walls with Modern Masters Metallic Antique Copper paint. These are the walls  after the metallic copper paint base coat... a little garish, partly because of the bright spot light pointed into the room because I didn't have lighting in the room yet.


After the base coat dried, I brushed on/wiped off a Van Dyke Brown tinted glaze, toning down the copper paint. Here are the walls after glazing. (Later, we stained the ceiling a dark walnut).


I then spritzed the walls with water and dry brushed some other metallic paints here and there (Modern Masters Metallics Tequila Gold, Antique Bronze and Pale Gold), wiping most of the paint off except in the grooves. (No wiping yet in the image below).



This is how the walls looked after they were dry. The dry brushed metallics are subtle in the finish.   



We chose a door with a glass panel and affixed a decorative iron grill to the outside.  I did a metallic texturized paint treatment on the door and trim to match the grill.  This is a view from inside the room looking out to the lower level before painting the door and before the grill was installed.  The white door/trim color was awful.

Here is a view of the outside of the door after it was painted and with the grill in place.


Here are some close ups of the metallic paint treatment on the trim and the door, which I  posted about here and here (pictures appear dark without flash).


You can see the texture amd metallic characteristic a little better in the images below.



The iron grill was attached with brackets screwed onto the door frame.
                                         



My husband ordered various pre-made wine racks from the internet to fit the space and configuration needs for the number and size of bottles he stores. I would have preferred something different than the unstained red wood for the racks, but the price was right. (Some of the images are brighter than in real life because I shot extra lighting directly into the space when taking some of the photos).




You can see the the climate control unit toward the ceiling on the right in this image, which ensures that the room has a proper temperature (14 degrees Celcius) and humidity level (65 - 75%).

The sign below was part of a wine box. 

We went pretty simple with the room, but it is functional and has more than enough space for the wine we need to store.


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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Parrot Prints and Hobby Lobby


I love birds (and have two parrots) so I was excited when I saw these two 16" X 20" parrot prints at Allposters.com.
Golden Parrot II (Pat Woodsworth)

Golden Parrot I (Pat Woodsworth)

I went to a local place for framing, however for what I wanted, even with a coupon, the cost was going tobe $275 per print, which I did not consider a reasonable option considering the prints were just  $19.99 a piece.  So I went to Hobby Lobby to look at their framing options.

Although the collection of frames and matting were not as extensive as the other place, I found a few that I liked...





I ended up choosing the second frame sample and a  4" mottled brown matting, for a final framed size of 28" X 32." Here is how they turned out (double click to enlarge)...


A close up of the frames and matting....


I also decided to do a thin architectural moulding ("fillet") between the print and mat board. Hard to capture, but I think the fillet can be kind of seen in these pics....



I decided to hang the framed prints in the kitchen and hearth area....

Here is the first print, Golden Parrot I.  This  photo, like many of the others in this post, is not very good because the natural light in the area resulted in a lot of glare and I couldn't figure out if it was better to use flash or not.

I placed this one in the kitchen area near the island....


A far view...


And closer ups....






Here is the other print, Golden Parrot II ....

I placed this picture in the hearth area of the kitchen (bad glare)....

Other views (with flash)....


Here are some pics without the flash (I think the photos with flash are truer to life)... 





When I picked up the framed prints, Hobby Lobby was having a 50% off sale on wall clocks, so I bought a round one, which is 32" in diameter ....


and this 32" X 32" square clock.

I haven't figured out where I'm going to place the square clock, but here is where I hung the round  one. 



I like the parrot pictures, but especially like the fact that the cost of getting both of them framed at Hobby Lobby cost less than getting just one print framed at the other place.

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